Twitter will expand the types of political advertising it allows “in the coming weeks.”
More than three years after ending all political advertising amid election misinformation concerns, the social network—now under the thumb of Elon Musk—will reverse its ban.
“We believe that cause-based advertising can facilitate public conversation around important topics. Today, we’re relaxing our ads policy for cause-based ads in the US. We also plan to expand the political advertising we permit in the coming weeks,” the Twitter Safety team tweeted(Opens in a new window).
Cause-based ads include(Opens in a new window) those that “educate, raise awareness, and/or call for people to take action in connection with civic engagement, economic growth, environmental stewardship, or social equity causes.”
“Moving forward, we will align our advertising policy with that of TV and other media outlets. As with all policy changes, we will first ensure that our approach to reviewing and approving content protects people on Twitter. We’ll share more details as this work progresses.”
In banning political ads, then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey explained in 2019 that his main problem with political ads was candidates’ ability to essentially pay to extend their message online with no consideration for quality or authenticity. At the time, rival Facebook was embroiled in controversy for permitting political candidates to run ads free of any fact-checking.
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Musk purchased Twitter ostensibly to promote free speech, though that stance has already been put to the test. The change in policy is likely driven in part due to flagging ad sales. Musk has said that Twitter is running on fumes, prompting major layoffs and other cuts.
In November, Musk argued(Opens in a new window) that Twitter’s policy “is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.” Negative or “hate tweets” will be deboosted and demonetized, “so no ads or other revenue to Twitter.” We’ll see how that plays out when the 2024 US presidential election cycle gets started.
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